The world's oldest and most comprehensive blog on lesbian-themed Japanese cartoons, comics and related media

Kill La Kill Anime (English)

March 30th, 2014

By Popular Demand! And because I want to! Welcome to the Okazu review of, streaming right this second for free, legally (with regional restrictions) on Crunchyroll…Kill La Kill.

I’m going to say this plainly and simply, right up front – it is going to be very, very hard to topple this anime from my #1 of the year spot. It was just fantastic in every way. This is why I watch anime, in the same way that reading Mori Natsuko’s books is why I learned to read Japanese. It was outrageous, it was offensive and I loved it.

The plot is very much the driving force of the anime, so I’ll keep the synopsis short. Matoi Ryuko arrives at Honnouji Academy seeking revenge for the death of her father. What she finds is a plot so complex that the lives of all humanity is at stake.

Because this anime really is just that fabulous, and I don’t want to ruin one single second of the “wtf was THAT!?!???? Hahahahaha!!!!!” that you will experience, I refuse to spoil the story. Which of course means you’ll have no idea why I liked it so much. So without spoiling the actual plot, I’ll try to explain what made this anime so good.

Ratings:

Story: The plot is insane and absurd…and wonderful. The writing has a kind of internal consistency and plausibility that I long for in my own writing. Having created a world, the writers take that world to the absolute limits…and it works. 10 out of 10

Character: These may well be the greatest characters every created. Full stop. And I cannot tell you why until every last one of you has seen the anime. 10 out of 10

Art: Every once in a while, as you’re watching Kill La Kill, the art style switches, not to “funny SD” or “hyperbolic action” but to a specific period or genre and suddenly you realize that that scene was an homage to something you recognize. The speech patterns also change from time to time to fit that homage as well. This is basically the most fun I’ve had actually watching an anime in a long time. 10 out of 10

Service: By the gods, does this series have service. I don’t hate service. I hate coy or creepy service. Grow the fuck up and look at the girl’s tits. Stare at the guy’s ass, don’t be a creep about it. Don’t titter or giggle. This series doesn’t creep, titter or giggle. It’s over the top and downright hilarious with the service. Naked girls, sure, naked guys too, by the end everyone’s naked…and it totally works. It’s actually part of the plot! And funny! And sort of honorable, and yet funny. 1000 out of 10

And, of course….

Yuri: There is Yuri. There’s actually quite a bit of it. Creepy, incesty Yuri, Fan-pairing Yuri, slightly less creepy incesty Yuri, rival Yuri, friend Yuri and in the end, there’s actually a potential couple. A good one. Not a creepy one. 10 out of 10

Overall – 10

This anime is a 10, full stop, one of the two amazing anime I’m watching this season (Hozuki no Reitestsu is the other) and a very strong contender for #1 of 2014. Kudos to the translation team. You did a bang-up job.

Quick contest – Who’s the best character? There’s only one right answer. Winner gets something cool. Answer in the comments. Don’t know? Go watch it and see!

I just finished this up yesterday and I’m sad it’s finished. We probably should have watched this together. There were plenty of times I wanted to discuss or squee about something I saw or picked up. As for the best character, and only one right answer, I’m going to say Ragyo. Because, really, how could it not be her.

Having just finished this series an hour ago, I knew this would appear on Okazu, although still surprisingly fast. Just when you thought you’ve seen how imaginatively over-the-top the craziest anime series can get, this one just manages to top it all–at least for now!

Yes! For weeks I’ve been threatening grievous bodily harm to anyone, online or IRL, who dared spoil even a tiny bit of this series to me. I just finished watching the last episode with the friends and we were hysterical by the end. I hadn’t had such an awesome ride since Re: Cutie Honey! Every single frame of this is sheer, unadulterated perfection, and You-know-who might just be the perfect, ultimate anime villain.

Yay! I am so glad everyone around Okazu seems to like Kill La Kill. This was the first amine I decided to pay attention to the social media surrounding it and sometimes that just made me unnecessarily sad or apprehensive of my enjoyment of it. So glad to hear the people who’s opinions I care about the most seem to love it.

As far as character goes I will have to be weird and say I love an action series where all the principal actors, ie: those that affect the plot the most, are all women. This is exactly the kind of series I had been waiting for.

Oh certainly. I was in love with Gamagoori by the end he was great value. Don’t want to diminish those characters at all especially Mikisugi who was the only character to come close to Mako when it came to jokes.

I was wondering if something would show up on Okazu. I’m glad that it did and I agree. Sometimes this show was so ridiculously awesome that it damned near left me breathless. I loved how it had a completely, exuberantly bonkers premise that it played way over the top, but still had really great, interesting characters. Satsuki and Ryuko were fantastic and Mako is one for the ages.

On top of all that, it seems to have been close to being ‘unifying’ in how widely liked it is.

This show took two attempts for me to like it. I watched the first ep when it came out, and the service just made me uncomfortable. Around ep7 I was persuaded to give it another chance, and man did it blow me away. So, in short: Give it a chance! The service is, as stated, over the top. But essentially so, and contextually perfect. And the ending had me sniffling lots!

Really? omfg the whole point of the “plot-driven service” is a fucking rape analogue. An honest to shit “it’s rape but it’s empowering see embrace your rapist and all will be well” metaphor. Watching this show was such a disturbing experience for me, not just because of its vileness but because seeing so many people congratulate this vileness, calling it feminist and subversive, is just too freaking depressing to handle. omfg, Okazu, I expected better from you.

I did not call it feminist or subversive. I said I liked it for what it was. Cognitive dissonance is when you get upset at something I did not say. I was pretty clear that I saw no moral value in it, but still found it entertaining.

I know what you are saying and I understand it’s valid, but my opinion is also valid and I (who was sexually molested as a kid, so my anger is as valid as yours) thought it an entertaining animation.

I’m not going to change my opinion about a cartoon about alien clothes invading an alternate earth because you are angry at me because I have a different opinion than you. This happens whether I like an anime or not.

I’m only a few episodes in so maybe it changes later on, but so far it has been precisely the same old creeping, tittering and giggling – peeping toms, nosebleeds, and “funny” sexual harassment – only with the occasional modicum of self-awareness. I’m going to keep watching because I’m really impressed with the animation, but truthfully I’m not enjoying it very much.

There is some at the beginning, but it is minimized as the service gets weirder and more part of the plot. I will not tell you there is no service – there is. A LOT. If the service itself bothers you, you might want to stop watching. The father and brother creeping as comedy is an unfortunate reality of rape culture.

TTGL is a masterpiece of genre deconstruction, the giant robot version o kill la Kill, and is exquisite. Panty and Stockings I just couldn’t get into the art style. I want to, bad, it SHOULD be something on my top 10, but I just can’t watch it. But KLK has Ryuoko, Mato, and Nonon, and poor Gamagoori who I think just wants Mako to love him back. But overall, AHH, love it.

As for the contest: I’d really like to say Ryuko, or rather the Ryuko-Senketsu tandem, because theirs is the coolest character design I’ve seen in a long time. But I must admit that Ragyo is by far the best character in the anime, for reasons that are obvious to any who watched it (and which shall not be spoilered for those who haven’t)

Well, I am giving this a try, currently on Ep.5 via Crunchyroll. Sometimes your view mirrors my own and sometimes it does not, but I still value Okazu. I finished ‘Tatakau Shisho:Book of Bantorra’ (it was okay) and ‘Non Non Biyori’ (which I really liked a lot) based off of reviews found here. So, I will watch this to the end and see what to make of this show.

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Erica Friedman is the Founder of Yuricon, ALC Publishing and Yurikon LLC, Social Media Without Delusion. LGBTQ and Geek Marketing Consultant. Proud to be a MLS.
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